Unfinished Business
by bossy
Summary: Sequel to X Factor. Three months after Raven has been returned to the Titans, her teammates feel that she's secluding herself again. And a certain thief has again come calling. All Raven can think to herself is, Why me? She's about to get her answer.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here's the highly requested sequel/continuation or whatever. I hope it lives up to expectations.

Disclaimer: The number you have reached is not in service. Please hang up and try your call again later. This is a recording.

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**Unfinished Business**

**Prologue**

With all the lights off, shadows collected in all the corners and around every stationary monument in the room. To Red X, it was paradise. So many things to steal, so little in the way of setbacks. This particular museum didn't even have security cameras, let alone the floor sensors and laser movement detectors he was used to. It was almost an insult to his pride to break into such a place.

But the museum had something he just couldn't pass up. The Eye of Eden. It was one of the artifacts that had been brought into the city for a one-week showcase. It was a large obsidian stone surrounded by a ring of sapphire. It looked like a gleaming iris from a distance, and to Red X, it was a must have.

Knowing the only guard on duty that night was on the other side of the museum, Red X casually strolled through the display as if he were a regular patron. He walked right up to the case the housed the Eye and attached a suction cup to the top and pulled up. The case made a small popping sound before giving way, and X reached for the Eye.

It was heavier than he expected, but that didn't stop him from grinning with delight as he pocketed it. With ease, he reattached the display case and removed his suction cup and turned around to leave. He stopped mid-stride as he spotted a tall, lanky figure in the shadows of the hallway.

At first, X thought he had miscalculated the guard's rounds and had been caught mid-burgle, but with a more scrutinizing glance, he realized his situation was much worse. One of Slade's robot minions stood between him and the exit. The robot reached out to a red box on the wall and pulled, setting off the building's fire alarms.

"And I thought today would be a boring day," X muttered as the robot came at him. The tin can did very little to subdue X, but when he vanquished one, three more appeared to occupy his time. X realized that if he didn't make it out of the museum in a certain amount of time that the authorities, or worse yet, the Titans would show up to ruin his party.

With the sound of sirens blaring outside the building, X knew it was the former that he would have the pleasure of dealing with after downing the last minion. He turned around in time to see uniformed officers rush into the room on either side of him.

"Freeze!"

**Chapter 1**

Raven woke up with a feeling of uneasiness. She had been dreaming that someone had been chasing her again. She sighed at her own paranoia, cursing her nerves that had been on end since the incident with Slade. She threw her covers to the side and rolled out of bed, grumbling about it being too early for her to get up.

Still, as she moved through her normal daily routine, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She knew it was near impossible for someone to get in unnoticed, as Cyborg had recently installed a new security system in her room. But the feeling would not leave, so she decided to do a little test.

She stood in the middle of her room, eyes closed and hands palmed together, as if she were praying. Without a word, she opened her now white, glowing eyes and pulled her hands apart in a sweeping motion. A chakra blast swept through the entire room, rattling furniture and books as it went.

A tiny fly on the ceiling squeaked and began a freefall to the ground, growing in size and shape to form Beast Boy, who landed on the floor with a thud. Slightly dazed, he sat up groaning and rubbing his back. Suddenly remembering that he'd just been busted, he lamely smiled up at Raven, who loomed over him with a dark look.

"Uh, good morning?" he tried, followed by a nervous chuckle.

"What are you doing in my room?" Raven asked, a slight hint of venom in her voice.

"Um, I was, uh, just hanging around," Beast Boy answered, grinning like an idiot. Raven sighed in exasperation and pointed for the door. Beast Boy looked at it with dismay, then back at her. "There's breakfast. If you want some."

"I don't eat breakfast and you know that," Raven reminded him. He frowned.

"Fine. Then watch us eat," Beast Boy proposed, standing up. "You never hang out with us anymore."

"I spent the entire night 'hanging around' with you guys last night," Raven stated. "We went for pizza, I refereed Stank-Ball for you guys in the park, and watched those ridiculous horror movies with you until three o'clock this morning."

"And you were moody and cranky the whole time," he shot back. "Ever since we got you back from Slade, you've been doing that whole creepy-secluded-Raven thing again."

"And I'll probably be like this for the rest of my life," Raven predicted. "Get over it."

"Geez. You're even worse in the mornings," Beast Boy muttered and crossed his arms. Raven gave him a look of death and grasped him with her chakra. Without a word, she shadowed him out her door. She heard his squawk of protest followed by more evil mutters in her direction disappearing down the hall.

After taking an hour to calm herself down, Raven ventured out of her room and down to the end of breakfast. She entered the room without a word and made her tea, sitting down at the table that was mostly devoid of food now.

"Well, look who decided to join us," Cyborg commented in between bites of scrambled eggs. While he wasn't looking, Beast Boy dumped a spoonful of tofu eggs into his breakfast.

"I have a complaint in the security of my room," Raven told him, watching him scoop up the tofu eggs and pause at her comment. Beast Boy watched slack-jawed as the tofu stopped within inches of Cyborg's mouth.

"That stuff is state-of-the-art," Cyborg told her. "What could possibly be wrong with it?"

"Goober Boy over there snuck into my room this morning," Raven replied. Beast Boy stopped staring at the spoonful of tofu and returned his attention to the conversation.

"Actually, I did it last night," he clarified happily. "And you talk in your sleep."

Her hood was down as it usually was when she wandered the Tower, so everyone saw the vein in her head pop out and begin to pulse. "Cyborg, Beast Boy put tofu in your eggs. Bon appetite."

Cyborg, who was in the middle of chewing, stopped abruptly and turned to face the squirming changeling. During the stare-down, Starfire put Silky on the table, who inched over and began feasting on the boys' breakfast. Raven got up from the table with her tea and walked away from the egg-spitting wrestling fight, headed for her room. Robin was fast on her heels.

"Hey, before you lock yourself up again—" he began.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped as she turned on him.

"It means that you've been hiding in your room a lot lately," Robin clarified. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go on city patrol with us."

"No," Raven answered and turned to continue down the hall. "I will watch the Tower."

"What is up with you lately?" Robin inquired, giving chase. "You never hang out with us anymore. It's like you don't—"

"I just need my space," Raven answered quickly. "I'm not ignoring you."

"Then go with us to dinner at the Pizza Palace," Robin insisted. "It won't kill you, right?"

"Fine," Raven agreed, somewhat irritably. "Can I go now?"

"Yeah," Robin mumbled, glowering as he walked away.

Raven made it the rest of the way to her room undeterred and locked the door behind her. She sighed heavily as she plopped down on the edge of her bed and began rubbing her temples. After a few minutes of silently massaging away her growing headache, she dropped her hands into her lap.

"How long are you going to watch me?" she called out.

"You know, you make it hard for a guy to sneak into your room these days."

Raven stood up and turned around to face the figure that had just emerged from hiding within her curtains.

"What, no hug?" Red X joked.

"I thought you weren't going to break into my room anymore," Raven stated, crossing her arms.

"No, I said I wouldn't steal you anymore," Red X explained, walking towards the pale spell-caster. "I never said anything about breaking into your room."

Raven turned her back on him and began collecting the books that were strewn across the floor from earlier that morning. "So then, what do I owe this little visit?"

"I just missed your sparkling personality," Red X stated, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Yeah, like you miss a swift kick in the ass," Raven muttered, placing the books on her bookshelf. "You want something from me."

"So what if I do?" he threw out. "Would you give it to me?"

"Depends, I suppose," Raven told him. "What do you want?"

"You," was his response. Raven quirked an eyebrow at him.

"No," she stated flatly.

"Let me explain," he started.

"No," she interrupted. "Not interested."

"Raven," he tried again. "I…need your help."

Raven blinked at him. "Come again?"

"I know you're not hard of hearing," X commented.

Raven sighed heavily. "Why me?"

"Partly because you're the only Titan that doesn't attack me every time you see me," X stated.

"And the other part?" Raven asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

"I thought you might want a vacation from this lame walk of life," X chuckled. "You seem a little stressed out."

"Screw you," she hissed, heading for her door. "I have better things to do with my time than waste it with you."

"Look," Red X began, moving to block her exit. "I have a problem—"

"I'll say," Raven muttered.

"I assume that you watch the headlines, if not the news," he continued. She nodded. "Do you remember seeing something last week about the museum that lost the Eye of Eden?"

"I was there," Raven clarified. "We got there just after you got out."

"I barely got out," he revealed. "And before you say it, no, I am not slipping."

"So what's your excuse then?" she asked.

"Slade," he said.

"Slade?" she repeated.

"He's been sending is robot lackeys out to sabotage my jobs," Red X told her. "The museum was just the first. Over the last week he has been tracking me relentlessly on any job I go out on and sets me up for a fall."

"I fail to see what any of this has to do with me," Raven told him. "I can't help you find Slade. And as far as him sabotaging your 'jobs,' that's just too bad. It's nice having someone else do the work for us."

"You should just agree to do it," X warned her. "I don't want to have to be mean."

"There is nothing you can say that is going to convince me to do this," Raven denied.

"I know about the secret that you and Boy Wonder keep," X said. "I know that he wants to keep his little business transaction with me a secret from the rest of the Titans."

"How do you…" Raven began. Red X walked up close and unclasped the cloak from her shoulders. On the back of the clasp was a tiny metallic X that could only be seen when light was reflected against it.

"It was an insightful ride home," X stated. "I hate using these kinds of tactics, but sometimes you gotta do something you don't like in order to get what you want. So if you don't agree to cooperate with me, I will reveal Robin's deceit to the other Titans."

Raven stood silently for a moment. "I hate you."

"I'll take that as a yes, then," X surmised. "I have a few details to work out and then I'll be back to get you. Pack light, we're taking the motorcycle."

Raven didn't even grace him with a response. She stared at the opposite wall as if to bore holes in it, trying to control her temper.

"Oh, by the way," Red X spoke up, standing in the window sill, "Beast Boy was right. You do talk in your sleep. It's actually quite amusing to know that you dream about me."

Raven lost her temper and used her chakra to throw books from her shelf out the window after him, yelling obsenaties at him as she crossed her room to the window. Not surprisingly, when she looked down he was out of sight. She willed her books back to her room and began reorganizing them before any of her teammates came inquiring as to why it had suddenly started raining spellbooks.

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A/N: As always, feedback is appreciated. Let me know what you think so far. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Yeah, it's been a while. I know. Sorry.

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**Chapter 2**

"Pizza!"

"Down, boy."

"Mustard!"

"Star, you didn't bring that from home, did you?"

"Yes. And Silkie as well."

"Hey! No slug-things on the table!"

"Not on the pizza either!"

Raven sat quietly at the table on the outdoor balcony where the Titans usually went to indulge in their habitual pizza binges. The banter between her friends was normal, but Raven couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Thinking she was being tailed by the masked thief, she glanced over each shoulder before returning her gaze in front of her.

"Hey, who ordered anchovies?"

"A guy's gotta have protein once in a while."

"Why are small fish trying to eat our pizza?"

"Those are anchovies, Star."

"I thought we agreed on cheese pizzas."

"Look, we can always order more if you don't like what we've got now."

"Has anyone seen Silkie?"

"Ahhh!"

"Nevermind."

Raven had finished scanning the rooftops and had returned her attention to her friends when a woman at the table next to them screamed. Apparently Beast Boy wasn't the only one who was turned off by the anchovies and Silkie had begun devouring the pizzas of the other patrons. Starfire rushed over and collected her slug-like pet, hugging him in adoration while Cyborg furiously devoured the rest of the anchovy pizza in front of a disgusted Beast Boy.

Raven rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze to Robin, catching him in the middle of giving her 'the eye' again. She sighed in discontent and shot him a dark look.

_Quit staring at me. You're making me paranoid._

Robin jumped slightly. "What?"

"Quit staring," Raven reiterated.

"Did you just…"

"Yes, because I was trying not to draw attention to the fact that you're staring at me."

"Sorry," Robin admitted lamely, starting to pick at his pizza. All was well for about two minutes, when he started staring again.

_Quit staring. It's really annoying._

Robin quirked his head to the side. _What, I can't even look in your general direction anymore?_

"Ugh. I'm ready to leave," Raven announced, standing up from the table.

"But I just ordered the next round of pizza," Beast Boy protested.

"I'll see you all back at the tower," Raven said, grabbing one side of her cloak, ready to shadow herself home. Before she could shadow herself away, a loud explosion erupted down the street, followed immediately by sirens blaring. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of defeat, waiting for the inevitable.

"Titans, go!" Robin declared, setting the others at the table off in a rapid burst down the street. At her leisure, Raven followed. When she reached the others, they were helping civilians evacuate a lamp store.

"This goes beyond the concept of tacky," Raven complained, knowing only one person in all of Jump City that was strange/stupid/crazy enough to attempt to take over a lamp store.

"Come on in, you dim fools," Dr. Light beckoned. "I'll truly show you the light!"

"I'll handle this," Raven decided, reaching out with a tentacle of darkness.

"We're a team," Robin interrupted, coming to stand next to her. "We'll handle him as a team."

"What's the point if a little dark tentacle show will convince him to give himself up?" Raven asked, annoyed.

"Beast Boy's right," he answered. "You have been pulling away from us lately. You have to remember to let us help you."

"Uh, dudes?"

"Thank you, Dr. Robin," Raven countered, "but I'm a big girl and I don't need someone else telling me what I should and should not be doing."

"I didn't mean to sound like a shrink," Robin clarified, "but maybe you do need to hear it."

"Yo! Guys!"

"Oh, so you know what I need now, is it?"

"Why are you being like this? I'm not trying to—"

"Well you are!"

"Friends!"

Each stopped their argument and turned their attention to Starfire. Behind her, Beast Boy was doing a victory dance and Cyborg had Dr. Light unconscious and slung over his shoulder.

"We have become victorious in your absence," she told them. "Now we may return to the palace of round, gooey goodness."

"I'm going home," Raven declared quickly and shadowed away before anyone could argue.

"Geez," Beast Boy pouted. "What crawled up her—"

"Don't start," Robin warned him and turned around, stalking back to the Pizza Palace.

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Raven shadowed herself directly into her room, pacing furiously back and forth, muttering under her breath incomprehensibly.

"Bad day at the office?"

"Do you want to find out how bad?" Raven spat, using her magic to split the curtains where the thief had been hiding.

"Get some stuff," he said, ignoring her infuriated state. "It's time to go."

"That was less than a day," Raven ranted as she packed, unhappy that her day was going from bad to worse. She quickly scribbled a note saying she had some personal business to take care of and dropped it on the dresser. "And I'm still not convinced you even need me."

"Are you done?"

She sighed deeply and narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah. I suppose."

"Good. My ride's down in the subbasement," he stated expectantly. Raven tsked her tongue in irritation and none too gently took hold of his arm, shadowing them to the subbasement.

"I don't see your—" Raven started, noticing that the only motorcycle in the make-shift garage was Robin's. "Oh, no. We are not going to—"

"Mine's busted. Courtesy of Slade," he explained, ignoring her look of refusal. "So I figured I'd just 'borrow' it for a while. Oh, and this time, I definitely removed the homing beacon."

"You're physically trying to make my life worse, aren't you?" Raven accused.

"Hurry up," he insisted. "I gotta make a stop somewhere on the way."

Raven climbed on the back of the motorcycle, knowing that she would later regret it. Later came a lot faster than she'd planned, though, when the doors to the subbasement began to slowly open. Faced with the mortification of being caught with X on the back of Robin's motorcycle, she immediately shadowed the whole load to the city-side entrance just as it closed.

In the garage, the rest of the Titans climbed out of the T-Car, discussing the rest of the night's activities.

"Dude, I am sooo going to beat your shiny, metal butt at Super-Virtual-Nascar-3000," Beast Boy declared.

"Yeah, just like last time with Shadow-Ops-Ninja-Force, when I creamed your little tofu butt," Cyborg predicted.

"Please, friends," Starfire interjected, twirling in the air in a circle in attempt to look at her own rear. "What humorous and colorful metaphors describe my behind?"

Before anyone could venture an answer, Robin spoke up. "Where's my motorcycle?"

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"What in the world do you think you need to stop here for?" Raven asked, looking over at Jump City National Bank across the street.

"You'll see," was the response she got.

"You do realize that I can't let you go in there," she reminded him, following him off the bike.

"Just do me one favor," X requested. "Don't try to stop me until I take something."

"Say what?"

"Let me do what I need to do, and don't try to stop me unless I _take_ something."

"…Fine," Raven reluctantly agreed, wondering if she'd regret that later. She watched him fire a tether line to the roof of the bank and then his silhouette as he worked his way into the building. She sighed in disdain and shadowed herself into the main lobby just as X dropped down from the roof.

"You could have helped," he commented as he walked over to the vault.

"Explain to me why I should be helping you break into a bank without sounding stupid," she challenged, watching him easily break his way into the vault.

"Come here," he beckoned, walking into the middle of the vault.

"Why? So I can be closer to you when you try to steal something?" Raven asked, ambling towards the vault. As she stood in front of him, he held up one hand with all his fingers outstretched. Silently, his fingers gave a countdown to zero, and finally the alarms went off. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," X shrugged, pointing behind her. "They did it."

Raven turned around to see about a dozen of Slade's robots standing in the lobby where she had just been.

"I told you so," X sneered as the robots began rushing towards them. He wasted no time in battling them off while Raven stood dazed at the sight. She was shook from her reverie by the sound of her communicator going off.

"Raven, wherever you are, we have a break-in at Jump City National bank," Robin's voice yelled through the communicator. "Meet us there."

"That could be awkward," X laughed, having successfully taken down half of the robots. "Maybe you could assist me in a quick exit?"

"And you claim that you aren't slipping," she taunted before taking his arm and shadowing the two of them out of the building and across the street to where they left the motorcycle.

"And not a moment too soon," X commented as the T-Car rolled up in front of the bank. The left over robot minions were scattering away, giving the Titans someone to chase. "I suggest we take our leave of this place."

He straddle-walked the bike another block farther away from the bank before starting the engine and taking off.

"Where are we going now?" she yelled through the wind.

"To the warehouse by the pier," he answered. "I have to grab a few things before we—"

A sharp, metal object, whizzing by mere inches from her head cut off his reply. They both stole a quick glance behind them to see two of the minions in pursuit of them.

"Dammit," X hissed, starting to weave the bike side to side in order to dodge flying weaponry. "Have you ever driven a motorcycle?"

"No," Raven answered.

"Then you better come up with something to loose them," he told her, "because I can't do both."

Raven glared at him for a moment before turning around completely on the bike. Her hood blew up and her hair began whipping her in the face violently, adding to her frustration. She reached out with her dark powers and grasped one of the minions long enough to steer him into a brick building. The second proved to be more of a challenge by not allowing himself to be captured by the dark force.

Finally, after loosing her patience for the second time that evening, she lashed out with an encompassing black force that shadowed the entire block behind them. With a suction-like pull, everything on the block, buildings, cars, and all, came towards her, creating a path of chaos in her wake. The minion was not crafty enough to dodge the wreckage.

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A/N: If you can find it in your heart to do so after I made you wait so long, please review...please? 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: And just because I made you wait so long, here's 3.

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**Chapter 3**

"And that, boys and girls, is why I can't go anywhere anymore," X announced as he irritably yanked his helmet off and threw it to a dark corner of the warehouse. "Did I mention that my bike is at the bottom of the Jump City River? In two pieces?"

"It's not like you should have been in there anyway," Raven commented, looking around. It looked like your typical warehouse. Boxes here and there, some forklifts and small machinery littered sparsely. Not anything like a major criminal's hideout that she'd imagined.

"Yeah? So glad you sympathize," he continued ranting. "Do you know that I have not been home in three weeks because of that asshole? Of course you don't. And nor do you care. But I care, dammit."

He stopped his little triad and sighed, shaking his head wearily. "You have no idea how much I miss sleeping in my own bed."

Raven allowed herself a small chuckle, glad that he'd finished his tantrum. "So all of this, the blackmail, the revenge plot, are all so you can sleep in your own bed again."

"Precisely."

"You're crazy," she diagnosed.

"No, I'm sleep deprived," he disagreed. "Let's put it this way: would you appreciate it if Slade were still coming after you, day in and day out, to the point at which you jump at your own shadow?"

"Actually," she admitted, "that's what I did expect after I was rescued. The Titans told me about how he'd said he wasn't done with me, and I really thought that it was only a matter of time before he'd be after me again."

"And you're probably right," X agreed. "As soon as he is done dispatching me, he'd probably be back to snatching you. See? I told ya this would be to your advantage."

"I still don't know what you need me for," she whined.

"Alright," he lamented. "I have a fix on Slade's current base of operations. I want to set up an ambush but that's increasingly difficult with one person."

"I'd say it's still difficult with two people," Raven pointed out.

"See, now that's where you come in," X said. "I'm the bait, you're the cavalry."

"Excuse me?"

"You've got connections. Use them."

"I have the Titans. And that's all I have."

"Exactly. I know for a fact that Bird-Boy is way too suspicious to help you out in something like this," he explained, "but lucky for us the East Titans won't be so guarded in lending help."

"One, Titans East probably won't just jump into helping me out with something personal and will probably try to check with Robin on whether or not they should," Raven pointed out. "Two, they're in Steel City."

"And that's why I told you to pack light," X stated. "It's a twenty-two hour drive on the motorcycle and I don't want extra baggage."

"You mean to tell me that Slade is near Steel City?" Raven asked.

"No, I mean to tell you that Slade is _in_ Steel City," X revealed. "In an abandoned church of all places."

Raven was flabbergasted. Why would Slade set up headquarters in Steel City? Not that it mattered in the long run since he did as much damage when in the city as out of it. Still, even with the suspicion of Slade being in Steel City, it was going to be difficult to convince Titans East to help her. X shrugged when she told him so.

"Like I said, that's your department," he dismissed. "I don't care how you do it, but just do it. And come on, it's not like you couldn't make someone do something if you really wanted."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Raven asked, taking offense.

"Look, little birdie, I'm not going to stand here all night and argue with you about how useful you are to me in this little venture," he pushed. "I know, courtesy of our 'friend' Slade, that part of your telepathic powers allow you to control other people's minds for a short time. So just do it and quit your whining."

"I don't do that. Period," she growled. "Mind control is the worst form of personal invasion, and to even suggest that I use it on a friend—"

"You know what, kid?" X interrupted, his patience failing. "Sometimes you gotta do something you don't like in order to get what you want. And you want Slade out of the picture. For good. Right?"

She didn't answer immediately, and had begun a staring contest with the ground.

"Right?" X pushed again, a little more aggressively.

"Fine," she quietly relented. "But you had better not be messing with me, because if you think that a little black magic show and some mental supremacy is the extent of what I can do, you're sorely mistaken."

"Is that your pathetic version of a threat?" X taunted.

"It is a fact, not a threat, that there are a million things that are far worse than death," Raven corrected, with a dangerous glint in her eye. "And I can do all of them."

"I'll keep that in mind," X stated, monotone. "As exciting as this banter is, we've got to get on the move. So if you'd be so cooperative as to get back on the bike…"

'It is no longer a question of if I will regret this,' Raven thought as she once again climbed on the back of the motorcycle. 'It's now only a question of when.'

X climbed on the motorcycle himself after recovered the helmet he'd sent rolling in his previous tantrum. With a loud whir of the engine, the bike stirred to life and X began ride-walking it out of the warehouse and into the alley.

"So this is your 'personal business' that you have to take care of?"

Raven turned around quickly to see Robin at the other end of the alley, flanked on either side by the other Titans. She climbed off the bike, ignoring Red X's mutters of protest.

"What I do with my life outside of the Teen Titans is considered personal business," Raven stated, walking towards them.

"Including aiding and abetting a criminal?" Robin countered. "Who stole my motorcycle? Again?"

"Not my fault you just leave it sitting out for just anyone to steal," X taunted. "I'd trade you mine but it's at the bottom at the river currently."

"I have my reasons," she muttered darkly. Robin pulled her by the arm away from the other Titans.

"Explain them," he hissed.

"I don't have to explain myself," Raven hissed back.

"Is he forcing you to do this?" he asked, less abrasive. "What is he holding over your head?"

"Just leave it alone," she insisted.

"Raven, you don't have to do this," Robin whispered, making a quick backward glance at the rest of the team. "You don't owe him anything."

"Yes I do," Raven countered. "You may have paid him to steal me back from Slade, but I owe him for having made him a permanent target of Slade."

"He knew the risks when he accepted the job," Robin argued. "I told him to name his price and he did. You owe him nothing."

"That may be true, but I have to do this anyway," Raven insisted. "You guys don't. I'll be back when this is over."

"I refuse to accept this," Robin hissed, losing his concern over whether or not the others could hear their conversation. "You can't go with him."

"Why not?" Raven inquired, surprised to see him so easily upset.

"Because I said so," was his answer. Raven cocked an eyebrow at him, unamused at his child-like response.

She turned and began walking towards Red X and his bike. "If you go, you're out."

Raven stopped dead in her tracks. Slowly, she turned to face him again. "What?"

"If you go with him, it will be the end of your time with the Titans," Robin clarified, his voice shaking somewhat from a combination of anger and frustration. "You will be removed from ranks and from the ally list."

Raven was speechless. Never had she thought that Robin would say such a thing. Sure, she knew he'd be upset; that was a given. But to dismiss her from the Titans? That was totally unexpected.

Raven, who had spent most her life trying to smother her emotions, felt waves of them hit her all at once. Her hands shook with anger, her breathing became labored with frustration, and her chest tightened in sadness. She turned her back to him again when she could not stop her tears from welling in her eyes.

"Fine, go with him," Robin growled, mistaking the small movement as her decision. "Give me your communicator."

Her tears had yet to spill, so Raven pulled the communicator from inside her cloak and handed it to him. She gave him the sturdiest look she could muster as he almost reluctantly took it from her. Over his shoulder, she could see her friends' looks of astonishment and confusion.

Without a word, Raved walked over to where Red X had been patiently waiting and climbed on the back of the motorcycle. A loud squeal of tires was the goodbye that was left in her wake as they sped off down the alley. Robin let out a wild yell of anger and threw the communicator against the nearest wall as hard as he could. The small electronic device broke into several pieces on impact and scattered across the floor.

The other Titans, unnerved to see the outburst unleashed by their leader, were speechless as Robin stormed past them and launched a tether line, heading out the opposite end of the alley. Left by themselves to reflect on what had just transpired, they each exchanged looks of confusion.

"That didn't just happen, did it?" Beast Boy asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it did," Cyborg affirmed quietly.

"But seriously, he just can't kick her out like that," Beast Boy argued. "Can he?"

"I don't know," Cyborg admitted. "What do you think, Star?"

"We must…trust in Robin," Starfire spoke quietly. "Robin would not do something of the selfishness. He would not make team decision based solely on personal feelings."

They climbed into the T-Car and headed back to the Tower, no one breaking the oppressive silence that saturated the atmosphere. The underwater garage came into view and was open, which struck them as odd since it usually closed after the tunnel was clear. They got their answer to why the door was not closed when as they drove the tunnel. Pieces of items stored in the garage were randomly littered about, but their leader was no where in sight.

"Either Red X came back just to trash the place," Beast Boy spoke up, "or Robin had a temper tantrum in our garage."

"For Robin's sake, I hope it was option number one," Cyborg commented through gritted teeth.

* * *

A/N: And is it to anyone's liking?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: New and improved, with added lavender scent...

Disclaimer: No. I don't speak fluent Spanish. So get over it. Or, better yet, tell me how to write it correctly. Ha!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Quiet sniffles accompanied most of the ride to Steel City. It was driving X up the wall.

He wanted to tell her to suck it up, but had a feeling that would just make things worse. So he chose to try something a little less abrasive. "Hey, I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

That apparently was not the right thing to say either.

"This is all your fault!" Raven cried, beating both fists into his back. "I could be back at the Tower with my friends having a movie binge but no, I have to be kicked off the team and riding a stolen motorcycle in the middle of nowhere because you decided to blackmail me."

X made no attempt to defend himself or stop her, letting her vent her frustrations at him for the remainder of the ride. He was thankful, though, when she gave up cursing him and beating on his back. About ten miles outside of Steel City, X pulled the bike into the driveway of an abandoned farm.

"Until this is over, this is 'home sweet home'," X announced, getting off the motorcycle. "The house is condemned, but the barn isn't too bad."

"The sooner we get this over with, the better," Raven snapped at him, walking into the barn to make her appraisal. It stunk of animal dung and was covered with dust and filth. Bugs and spiders had claim in every corner. Despite her rotten mood, she smiled to herself.

"Not great, but not bad," X said, kicking up some hay to release the dust from it. "I've slept in worse."

"Reminds me of Beast Boy's room," she commented to herself. "What's the itinerary for this?"

"Five days," he declared. "Starting today. Tomorrow, I'll drop you near the Tower and let you go about 'convincing' the other Titans to help. After that, one day of reconnaissance and one day for the attack. Assuming everything goes according to plan, leave one last day for clean up and then you're free to go."

"You know what they say about assuming, right?" Raven asked, levitating to the barn overhang.

"Look, just five days until you can go back to that goodie-two-shoes job of yours," X sighed, showing his frustration. "That isn't too much to ask, is it?"

"I can't go back," Raven hissed at him. "That's your fault."

"It's no more my fault than it is that your idiot savant leader is jealous of me," X shot back. "And God knows as soon as I'm out of the picture he'll welcome you back with open arms and all will be well again in good-guy land."

"It's not going to be that perfect scenario that you just laid out," Raven argued.

"Oh, if I was a betting man, I'd lay a cool million on it," X continued. "And I don't go for sucker bets."

"What makes you so sure?" she demanded. "What is it that makes you so positive that they'll just welcome me back as if nothing happened?"

"Do you really want to know?" X asked. From her perch on the overhang, she shot a black bolt of energy at the barn wall next to his ear. "Fine. You want to know. But I thought it was rather obvious."

"Quit stalling!" Raven yelled, firing another black bolt of energy at him. He chuckled at the gesture, amused.

"He's in love with you."

Of all the things she was expecting him to say, that was not even a thought. "What?"

"You really don't see it?" X asked wearily. "I mean, come on. He's always on your case and on the case of anyone who's remotely close to you, he has a problem with you having friends outside of the Titans, whenever you two are alone, he finds a reason to touch you."

Raven stared at him. "That is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard."

X shrugged in defeat, but it didn't really seem to bother him. "Whatever. Sooner or later you'll see it. Don't know why you haven't yet. Unless…"

Raven began ignoring his ramblings and started her nightly meditation. After the day she'd had, her psyche was screaming for it. She had just about settled into a nice trance when X jumped up onto the overhang with her. She opened her eyes and gave him a look of pure disdain. He ignored it.

"Are you in love with him?"

She was caught so off-guard by the question that she fell out of mid-air onto her butt with a small squawk. X cocked his head to the side.

"Hmph. I thought so," he said, then jumped back down to the ground.

"You asshole!" she cursed, hanging over upside down. "And I am not!"

"Whatever you say, little birdie."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was a short night, but it didn't matter to Raven anyway because she found that she was too emotionally erratic to sleep or meditate properly. By the time she had sufficiently calmed herself, X was starting to stir and they were off to Steel City.

"I assume you can get yourself in without any help," he commented as she climbed off the motorcycle in a shadowed alley a few blocks away from the Tower.

She didn't even deign him with an answer, pulling up her hood and shaking out her cloak.

"Meet me back at the farm when you're done," he instructed, then peeled out of the other end of the alley. She sighed in irritation, wishing she'd gotten some decent meditating in before openly attempting to con her friends into helping her.

"And what have we here?"

"Perfect," she nearly growled to herself as three grungy looking men approached her. One had a crowbar, one had brass knuckles, and the third had a knife.

"You know, there's a fee you have to pay to slink around in our alley," the one with the knife said. "And you don't look like the type that carries cash."

"And you wear a hood," added the second. "Must be really ugly under there."

"So if she's got no money and ain't much to look at, what do we charge as a trespassing fee?" asked the one with the brass knuckles.

"How about we sell her organs for spare parts," suggested the knife wielder. "Healthy organs go for a ton on the black market."

"How about you go to jail."

The three would-be attackers turned around to see Speedy standing at the opening of the alley.

"And by the way," he added as he pulled an arrow, "she's far from ugly under there."

It took Speedy less than a minute to subdue the three attackers and bind them for the police. After calling his catch into dispatch, he walked over to Raven and engulfed her in a big hug. She gave him a look of wariness when he finally let go, but he ignored it and pulled back her hood.

"What? I like to hug pretty girls," he explained. "So what brings you to Steel City, Raven?"

"I'd prefer not to discuss it in the open," Raven stated, pulling her hood back up. "I was actually on my way to the Tower."

"Well, I'll go with you," Speedy decided. "My night patrol is almost over anyway."

With the attackers in police custody, Raven and Speedy headed for the Tower, discussing what had gone on in the last three months.

"Every time one of us decides to come visit or something, we have a huge crime wave or new criminal pop up or something," Speedy explained. "I don't know why, but in the last couple of months, the crime rate has almost doubled."

"It's okay," Raven assured him. "We have been busy too. It's not like we couldn't come visit you guys more often either."

"But you did," he said. "And we're glad to have you."

"I wish I could say I came just for a visit," Raven confided, earning a concerned glance. "But unfortunately, I think I have the answer as to why your city's crime rate has been so high in the last few months."

"Boo," Speedy jokingly jeered. "And here I was hoping that you'd come to visit just for my sparkling personality."

By that time, they had reached the Tower and were on the lift. Much to the dismay of her no-touchey rule, more hugs awaited her when she faced the other Titans. It was also giving her a huge pang of guilt.

"So Speedy tells us that you might have an answer to one of our big questions," Bumblebee started, indicating that it was time to get serious.

"I think so," Raven nodded. "It has come to my attention that Slade has taken up residence here in Steel City."

"Quién—" began Mas.

"-o qué-" interrupted Menos.

"-es Slade?" Mas finished.

"He's the one that paid Red X to steal Raven a few months back," Aqualad explained to the boys.

"And he's here?" Speedy asked. "In _our_ city?"

"How did you come about this information?" Bumblebee inquired. "I mean, if he's been in our city for three months and we didn't even know it, how did you find out?"

"I didn't know either until a couple of days ago," Raven admitted. "But all of my evidence points to Steel City."

She hoped they didn't ask about her evidence, since it was all based on what a thief had told her.

"So why aren't the rest of the Titans here?" Aqualad wondered. "Last time, it took all of us to even be a match for him."

"If all of the Titans suddenly appeared in Steel City, it would be a dead giveaway," Raven explained. "If only I am here, then it looks like it's just a visit."

"So where is he then?" Speedy inquired.

"I have an idea, but I want to check it out alone first," Raven told them. "I can shadow my way around without being caught easily."

"I don't like it," Bumblebee stated. "It was you that he was originally after."

"Trust me," Raven assured them, adding a little mental push. "I can handle it."

They still weren't too convinced, and Raven began to wonder if she needed to give them a bigger push. Before she could act, a voice popped into her head.

_I still don't like it._

Raven blinked surprised, and looked over to Aqualad. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was giving her a scrutinous eye. She had completely forgotten that Aqualad had stronger telepathic abilities than most people due to his aquatic abilities.

_I'll be fine,_ she tried reassuring him again, hoping he hadn't detected her first mental push. _I can do it._

"I'll agree to you going to check it out under one condition," Bumblebee announced. "You have to take one of us."

"But—"

"No buts," Bumblebee declared. "It's too much of a risk for you to go alone, and one person isn't going to hinder you too much."

"Hey, I'd be more than happy to escort you," Speedy said, taking her hand and dropping to one knee. "I'll be your Robin Hood, but younger. And not a thief."

"This isn't a date, you nutbag," Aqualad reminded him, smacking him across the back of the head. "And you're too impulsive. You can't go."

"Oh, and I suppose you should go," Speedy argued, standing up to face him. "Mister it-could-be-too-dangerous-let's-just-wait. You two would get there and never go in."

"Preferemos trabajar juntos," Mas told Raven and Bumblebee as Aqualad and Speedy started boy-fighting across the living room.

"Pensamos que no deberíamos ir," Mas agreed.

"I also agree," Bumblebee told them. "You two do better when together. And I seriously doubt Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Duh over there should go with either."

"It's like Cyborg and Beast Boy fighting over who's going to order the pizza," Raven assessed, watching the two boys fighting. "In the end, Robin always ended up ordering."

"Well, I guess 'I'm ordering the pizza' tonight," Bumblebee giggled. "What time do you want to go?"

"I prefer evenings," Raven said. "More shadows."

"Well, until then, you are more than welcome to hang out here," Bumblebee offered, sweeping her hand outwards and cringing when she noticed that Aqualad and Speedy were _still_ quarrelling.

"I really just need a place to meditate," Raven sighed.

"That could prove difficult," Bumblebee realized. "There's a park a few blocks from here. That's probably your best bet."

Raven thanked her and promised to return at dusk. Before the boys could notice, she slipped out of the Tower and when she was a good distance away, shadowed back to the farm.

"That took longer than expected," X greeted her.

"It didn't go as smooth as planned, either," she admitted, then told him of the end result. He proceeded to curse and throw things around in annoyance.

"That place is full of alarms and booby traps," X ranted. "The minute you two go in there, you're going to set off three alarms and not even know it."

"What was I supposed to say?" Raven yelled back. "I can't use mind control when one of them is telepathic."

He finally seemed to calm down and began reassessing the situation.

"Alright. I can do this," he told himself more than her. "I've been in there before. I can get myself around fair enough, but leading you two through without setting off sensors or getting the other chick suspicious…"

He trailed off and Raven floated up to the overhang to meditate. She had just gotten into a good rhythm when she felt someone touch her ear. She opened her eyes and saw X in front of her, pushing what she assumed to be a one-way transmitter in her ear.

"You'll have to keep your hood up," X diagnosed, then pointed to the clear X on the clasp of her cloak. "This will tell me where you are and what you and She-Bee are possibly doing next. The earpiece is so I can tell you what to avoid. But your hair doesn't hide it completely so don't get careless."

"And what do I do if we do set off an alarm," Raven asked. "I can't get both you and Bumblebee out at the same time."

"You set off an alarm, and I swear I will kill you myself," X vowed, grabbing hold of her chin and squeezing it hard. "Whether or not Slade is three feet behind me when I do it."

* * *

A/N: So. BIG freakin' thanks to Kaika-sama for fixing my errors in my (lame) attempt to write in spanish. THANK YOU!!!!! You rock out loud! 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yo. Been a while. Been restoring my EVERYTHING on my computer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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****Chapter 5**

Aqualad smiled at Raven as he climbed out of the water and saw her leaning against the entryway to the elevator. "Good morning. What brings you to the Tower so early?"

It was just past seven in the morning.

"I could be late, depending on how you look at it," she returned. "I was out all night."

"Sounds racy," Aqualad kidded.

"I am inherently nocturnal," Raven countered as they stepped into the lift. "And it was at least a productive night."

"Productive?" he repeated.

"We found him," she told him. They stepped off the lift into the main room of East tower where Speedy was still asleep on the sofa and Bumblebee was making some oatmeal. Mas y Menos were nowhere in sight.

"Good morning," Bumblebee greeted him. Aqualad nodded in return, while Raven sat down at the table.

"Where are the hombres?" Aqualad asked, walking over to Speedy and starting to rouse him.

"They should be finishing up their city-wide patrol," Bumblebee answered. "They should be back anytime now."

"Great, he drooled on the controller again," Aqualad assessed. "Probably will have to go get a new one."

"Frankly, I'm surprised at how easy it was to find Slade's base," Bumblebee commented, finishing her oatmeal and putting her used dishes in the sink. "Shouldn't it be harder to find this guy?"

"It should," Raven agreed. "But he doesn't know that anyone's actively looking for him. Otherwise, I think it would be a different story."

"Wake up you lazy bum!" Aqualad commanded of Speedy, who was trying his hardest to ignore the sea prince. "It's not my fault you gamed all night and now it's time to work."

"Give me one good reason why I should get up," Speedy mumbled into the couch pillows.

Aqualad crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Raven's back."

He sat upright and looked over the back of the couch. He threw her a wide smirk, and that combined with his hair sticking out in every direction was enough to earn a chuckle of amusement from Raven.

"Estamos detrás!" Mas y Menos announced as they stepped off the lift.

"Perfect," Bumblebee said. "Lets begin the debriefing."

Raven tuned Bumblebee out as she recalled the previous night's…spectacle.

_Raven had met up with Bumblebee back at the East Tower, then shadowed them within the vicinity of the church._

"_We're here," Raven said, to both Bumblebee and X._

"_You're serious?" Bumblebee inquired. "An abandoned church?"_

"_Yeah, those were my thoughts exactly," Raven confided. _

"_Use the sewer ducts that connect to the old factory across the street," X relayed in her ear._

"_There should be a sewer in that factory that leads to the church," Raven told Bumblebee, then shadowed them into the factory._

"_Do you think this place is under surveillance too?" Bumblebee whispered as they made their way to the basement of the building. _

"_There's nothing until you're inside the church," X told Raven. _

"_I don't know," Raven said. "But we should be careful."_

_Slowly, they made their way through the sewer pipe as X griped in Raven's ear that they were taking forever. Raven looked up as they walked along the pipe and noticed black boxes attached to the ceiling about every twenty feet or so._

"_I wonder what those are," she wondered aloud. Bumblebee looked up and shrugged._

"_They're bombs," X told her, causing her to trip slightly. "How graceful. Don't worry. I disabled the ones that are underneath a weight bearing structure."_

"_Now what?" Bumblebee asked as they reached the end of the pipe. There was no discernable door to get out of the sewer._

"_You're right under a storage room," X relayed. "You should be able to do that black shadowy thing you do to get you guys in there."_

"_We should be under the church by now," Raven repeated to Bumblebee, adding a little embellishment. "According to the city's building plans, this should be a storage room or something."_

_That seemed to sate Bumblebee, so Raven took her hand and with a swish of her cloak, the two of them were instantly in the storage room. It was pitch black in there, so it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust._

"_There's the door," Bumblebee observed from the light between the cracks._

"_Don't let her open the door!" X nearly panicked in her ear._

"_Wait!" Raven shout whispered, stopping her but earning a confused stare. "Uh, we don't know what's booby trapped here, so for the time being, let's just shadow through things."_

_Bumblebee gave her a scrutinous eye for a few moments, making Raven wonder if she'd been busted._

"_That's not a bad idea," Bumblebee finally said. "Doesn't hurt to be careful."_

"_Good cover," X praised._

_They shadowed through the door and both floated silently down the different halls, directed by X at times around different surveillance cameras._

"_Head towards the sanctuary," X instructed Raven. "There should be enough blatant evidence there to prove to the She-Bee that Slade really is there."_

"_Let's check out the sanctuary," Raven suggested, hoping somehow that her actions didn't seem too suspicious._

_The sanctuary was also dark except for the balcony, which had an eerie glow coming from it. The girls nodded to each other in agreement and floated up to the balcony. Both were a little astounded to see the amount of surveillance technology embedded there. There was monitor upon monitor of different locations in Steel City that were being watched, including five monitors that were focused on Titans East Tower and its inhabitants._

"_Oh wow," was Bumblebee's input. _

_Raven was too a little speechless, but when her eyes caught one of the monitors of the inside of the church, she nearly panicked._

"_Get out of there! Now!" X screamed in her ear. Raven had already grabbed hold of Bumblebee and as Slade entered the sanctuary, they emerged from her shadow raven outside the church a block away._

"I think it's safe to say that Slade is in Steel City, and that the abandoned church is his base of operations," Bumblebee concluded.

"Hello, Titans to Raven," Speedy teased, waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry," Raven said, shaking her head wearily. "I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go meditate until…um, when are we going to plan this out?"

"Let's have everyone meet back here at six this evening," Bumblebee suggested. "That will give Raven and I time to get some sleep or whatever, but still leave us enough time to plan our offensive."

"You know, Raven," Speedy grinned slyly, "why don't you just hang out here? You can sleep in my bed."

Simultaneously, Bumblebee's and Aqualad's hand smacked the back of Speedy's head.

"What? I was just being hospitable," Speedy sulked.

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"You look like hell," X told her as she climbed onto the back of his bike.

"You don't know what hell looks like," Raven reminded him. "Yet."

"Cranky," X diagnosed.

"Tired," Raven corrected, and it was the last word on the matter as far as she knew. When she woke up, she was in the barn lying in the hay with a blanket over her. For about ten seconds, she allowed herself to be impressed by the gentlemanly gesture. Until she remembered that X was STILL blackmailing her.

On that sour note, she decided to seek him out, since he had been practically her shadow since they'd left Jump City. Him suddenly up and disappearing led to only bad connotations in her mind. She found him outside the barn, checking over miscellaneous parts of the motorcycle. She also noticed with annoyance that he had painted it.

"You're going to have to get yourself back to the Tower," X told her. "I'm going to be busy."

"And just where are you going?" she asked, watching him climb onto the motorcycle.

"I have to keep up appearances," he shrugged, kick starting the motor.

"Meaning what?"

He sighed in aggravation. "I'll be done in time to rendezvous with you at the Tower, but I won't have enough time to come back and get you to take you there. Not to mention, there won't be any room. Just don't worry about it."

"You're going on a heist?!" she shrieked, but he had already set off on the bike. Fuming, she threw her cloak around her and emerged a giant raven of black power. She followed him at a high distance, trying not to attract any unwanted attention in the late afternoon, and set down on the roof of the building that Red X was trying to break into.

Needless to say, he was less than amused when he let himself in to find her already waiting for him with a scowl.

"What in Hell makes you think that I'm just going to sit around and let you rob something just because it isn't in Jump City?" she growled as soon as he'd let himself in.

"And just what am I supposed to do?" he countered. "If I fall off the map then Slade will know something's up. And it's not like I can do a crappy job of it either."

She snorted at his arrogance. "So, just because you're some bad-ass thief, you have to try to rob the biggest diamond exchange in the city?"

"Try in the country," X corrected her. "And yes, it would be just as suspicious if I suddenly started pulling amateur jobs."

"Fine, whatever," she hissed. He stared for a moment and then walked around her towards the vault. The moment he got within a foot of it, the vault door became completely encompassed in black power.

"What the hell?" he snapped, turning to look at her.

"What? It would look just as suspicious if I didn't stop you," she reasoned.

"Son of a--"

The alarm began blaring in their ears.

"What did you do?" X yelled over the alarm.

"I didn't do anything!" Raven yelled back, starting to cover her ears but freezing half way. X followed her gaze behind him to the vault door that was opening on it's own. Immediately, four robot minions sprang out and attacked the both of them.

Raven lost sight of X while fighting off the first two robots that came at her, but it seemed like for every robot that she took down, two more took its place. They just continued to seep out of the vault until the entire display area was crowded with them. It didn't help matters when sirens began blaring outside of the front of the exchange.

In desperation, she headed for the vault, knowing that she wouldn't be immediately spotted there and possibly be able to make a get-away. She stumbled in and ran into a large object that was making eerie beeping noises. Upon closer inspection, she saw a timer attached to an obscene amount of C4.

She instinctively backed away but didn't get very far when the vault door closed and locked behind her. Not knowing what else to do, she shadowed herself along with the bomb as high into the atmosphere as she could and waited for the timer to run down. With five seconds left, she let go of her hold on the bomb and shadowed herself back into the vault of the diamond exchange.

She warily peeked through the door before completely shadowing through it, noting that a crowd had developed in front of the exchange. A loud boom reverberated throughout the streets, making everyone look up and point to the sky. With everyone distracted, Raven made her way across the display floor and in the direction she hoped X had gone.

She found him still fighting off innumerable minions in the back offices of the building. She quickly helped him dispatch the last of the pesky robots.

"Took you long enough," he commented, breathless.

"Sorry, I had to take care of a little nuisance called a bomb," she retorted. Beneath them, a deafening boom sounded milliseconds before the ground began to quake.

"I think you missed one," X stated just before the floor gave out beneath them. Raven encompassed herself in a black sphere that shielded her from the parts of the building that had begun to fall down on her. X wasn't close enough to her to pull in with her, forcing her to wait until the building had settled to go seek him out.

There was dust and airborne debris everywhere, causing her to cough as she carefully made her way to where she thought X had landed. Sure enough, he was lying on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from a wound she couldn't see. Above her, she could hear people slowly making their way inside the partially collapsed building.

"Hey, look!" someone called out. "It's the Titans!"

Raven cursed and pulled the unconscious thief close with one arm, gathering her cloak with the other hand. With the flutter of her cloak, blackness enveloped them and carried them out of the diamond exchange and to the outskirts of town. The abandoned farm house still had some items that had been left behind by the previous owner, and by rummaging through those, Raven found a basin for water and a few scraps of cloth.

For a moment, she didn't know what to do. It was obvious from the bleeding that there was some sort of head trauma, but she couldn't help but hesitate when faced with the predicament of removing his mask. Her internal war lasted only a few moments before she convinced herself that it was for the best and pulled off his mask.

Blood began flowing from everywhere it seemed, no longer restrained by the protective material. Raven soaked one of the scraps of cloth and ran it over his face so she could find the actual wound itself. A huge gash, probably resulting in a cracked skull, was just above his right eye. She took another cloth and applied it to the gash, concentrating her healing ability down to the wound.

As she worked her magic, her gaze fell to the other wound she had healed for him. The gash that had run down the expanse of his cheek was fading, and would soon be only noticeable to someone who was looking for it. She traced it lightly with a finger, then let her gaze wander to the rest of his face. Pale skin, blond hair, high cheekbones. Nothing like she would have imagined for a master thief and self-proclaimed bad-ass.

She finally looked away when she reached for the last piece of scrap material to hold as a compress, but when she looked back, she froze. Piercing blue eyes were locked on her. She was transfixed, so much so that she didn't react as he grabbed her arm and pushed her backwards.

She landed uncomfortably on her back with him sitting on her. He leaned down and held an X blade at her neck, his eyes narrowed as they settled on her.

"Bad move, little birdie," he whispered. "Now that you've seen my face, I can't let you live."

Raven just continued to stare back, not at all intimidated by his threat. "Do what you have to I guess."

He cocked an eyebrow, then leaned down and kissed her. She was certainly taken aback at the action and didn't return the kiss, giving him a wary look when he pulled away.

"You're no use to me dead," he quietly declared, pushing back and getting off of her. "At least right now."

"Next time I'll leave you to save your own ass," she shrugged, standing up.

"And where are you going?" he asked, rinsing out his mask in the basin.

"Your welcome for saving your life and your presence is no longer appreciated," she told him. "I'll sleep elsewhere."

She flicked her cloak back in order to shadow away, but he was next to her and had grabbed her arms before she could vanish.

"Now that you know what I look like, I'm not letting you out of my sight," he decided, pulling her arms back behind her and tying them. "And just so you don't try and let yourself out…"

She felt a familiar x-shaped object on her forehead before she felt a sharp pain in the center of her jewel and passed out.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter, next week. Peace. 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Yo. This one's kinda short, so it's a two for one deal this week. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 6**

Raven walked slowly through the East Tower, hiding from the early morning sunlight under the hood of her cloak and picking unconsciously at the x-canceller that was still stuck to her forehead. If looks could kill, X would have been dead that morning when he told her that for 'safety reasons' she was going to wear that thing until they moved in to take out Slade.

'Safety reasons,' Raven thought snidely. 'I really do hate him.'

She gratefully accepted the cup of tea that Aqualad offered her and sat down at the breakfast table, trying to tune into the conversation that was taking place.

"Due to unforeseen setbacks," Bumblebee began, "we didn't have a chance to set up our attack plan, let alone put it into motion. So, first things first. Teams and assignments."

"I call dibs on a cute partner," Speedy said, sticking his hand in the air.

"It's ideal for me to cover the roof and have Aqualad take the grounds," she continued, giving Speedy the evil eye. "That leaves you four to take the inside. Teams of two are an easy option since Mas y Menos do better together than apart."

"Then it's me and the black bird," Speedy grinned, immediately earning a smack from Bumblebee.

"She has a name, you dolt," she chided.

Raven was off in her own little world and didn't even hear the conversation going on around her. Her mind was still on the night before and the odd actions of X. She was still trying to convince herself that it was the concussion that moved him to kiss her instead of kill her when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Does that sound agreeable to you Raven?"

Raven returned her focus to the table and realized everyone was staring at her.

_Just say yes._

Raven blinked a couple times as her mind processed that Aqualad had just sent her a telepathic message, before she nodded. "Yes, that will be fine."

_What did I just agree to?_ she asked Aqualad.

"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" he suggested. She followed him to the elevator, in which he pressed the button for sea level. As soon as the doors closed he turned to her. "You have been giving off weird vibes all morning."

Taken aback a little, Raven just kind of stared at him for a moment. "I guess I am a little distracted this morning."

"A little?" Aqualad repeated. "Speedy was trying out pet-names for you and you didn't even blink."

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, okay?" she answered, a little more irritably than she'd planned.

"Sorry," he hastily threw out, with some of his own irritability. "You've just been really distracted and distant lately. That may be something that the other Titans are used to but as you can see here, we generally are a very expressive group."

"I'm sorry that I've been acting this way," she apologized, even though she really didn't feel all that sorry. "I'm just not used to all this and I guess it takes a lot out of me."

"Maybe you should leave the attack to us," Aqualad suggested. "You don't look well."

"I'm fine!" she yelled and stomped out of the building.

"We'll see," Aqualad muttered, crossing his arms and heading for the communications console.

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Raven climbed on the back of the motorcycle without a word. X shrugged and took off for the farm. But half way there, curiosity got the better of him.

"That was unusually fast," he commented. "What, Titans East get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Or was it just you?"

X was lucky he was as good of a rider as he was, since Raven punched him straight in the back of the head. The motorcycle weaved a little before he slammed on the brakes, luckily, on a relatively deserted street.

"What the hell is your problem?" he yelled, turning around and grabbing a tight hold of her arm before she could make an escape.

"You," she declared. "You are my problem. And I can't seem to get rid of it."

"Do we have to go through this every day?" he asked rhetorically. "Tonight. We're done tonight."

"That's not soon enough," Raven insisted. "It's bad enough that I have to be estranged from my friends at home, but now Titans East is starting to become weary of me."

"What do you mean, weary?"

"Aqualad thinks that I shouldn't go with on the attack tonight," Raven explained. "And he'll probably convince the others of it too."

"That is not allowed!" X bellowed, squeezing her arm tighter. "I don't care who you have to turn into a mental vegetable using your telepathic powers, but you are going tonight and that's the end of it."

Raven made no rebuttal, but glared nonetheless. Silence filled the rest of the ride back to the farm, as well as the few hours before Raven got a call on the spare communicator.

"Raven, we need you back here for one last meeting," Aqualad told her. She could tell that X was seething.

"I'll be there soon," she replied. More silence filled the ride back to town, but this time she could feel the anger radiating off of him as she sat behind him.

"Meet me at the fire station on Third Street," X growled at her. "And don't take all fucking day."

Raven had barely gotten off of the motorcycle before it was moving again. He had been touchy since she'd clocked him in the head and it didn't help that he'd had to make an extra trip to town for this spur of the moment meeting that Aqualad had contacted her about. Especially since it was probably to remove her from tonight's operation.

As she stepped off the lift, she saw all five members of Titans East sitting at the main table, all with grim expressions. Warily, she moved toward them.

"Good afternoon," she greeted them quietly. At the table, Speedy snorted.

"Not for long," he muttered.

"Raven, we're taking you off of tonight's operation," Bumblebee announced, standing.

"Under what pretense?" she asked, now starting to back away.

"Amongst other things, you've been lying to us," Aqualad stated, not looking at her. "We know about Red X."

"This is your last chance, Raven," Bumblebee told her. "Tell us the truth, what is going on?"

"I haven't lied to you," Raven insisted.

"Leaving out important details, like that you've been kicked out of the Titans," Speedy spoke up, "is the same as lying to us."

Raven had finally come up against a wall, but that wall was actually a person. She whipped around to see none other than Robin, with the other Titans flanking him.

"No more lies, Raven," Robin told her.

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A/N: Ooh, a big climax point! Yeah, wait until you read the next chapter... 


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Read on! Read on! Big plot turn at the end...

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**Chapter 7**

Red X found Raven about three miles from town about two hours later, walking down an unlit road. He blew past her on the motorcycle and pulled a U-turn. The bike idled as he waited for her to catch up, crossing his arms in annoyance that he had to come find her. It only served to fuel his annoyance more when he heard her sobbing as she got closer.

"I told you to meet me back at the fire station," he hissed. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

She ignored him, deliberately walking around him.

"Hey!" he yelled, somewhat in surprise and somewhat in anger. "I'm talking to you!"

"I'm done with you," Raven called over her shoulder.

"You're what?" he repeated, but not because he hadn't heard her. "You think you can just walk away from this now?"

She was ignoring him again, so he parked the motorcycle on the side of the road and took chase. He grabbed by the arm and spun her around to face him. There were dark circles under her eyes that were still wet from the tears that were dripping down from her eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded, shaking her a little.

"It's over," she said.

"My ass it's over," he contradicted. "Have you forgotten why you can't walk away from this?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Raven dismissed, yanking her arm from his grasp. "Do what you like."

"It suddenly doesn't matter to you what happens to your precious little leader if I spill my guts to the other Titans?" X asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"_You've been acting weird since you got here," Aqualad announced. "I decided to call Robin and see what the deal was."_

"_I can't believe you were just going to use us like that," Speedy ranted. "What if one of us had gotten killed doing this? What then?"_

"_If things weren't going to work out, I'd have pulled everyone out," Raven declared, now backing into a corner. "We couldn't do this alone--"_

"_We?" Bumblebee interrupted. "Tell me, was the plan to use us as bait to lure Slade out? Or just a distraction for his stupid robots?"_

_Raven didn't answer. Truth be told, she really didn't know how X planned to use them. But that much _was_ true. He was using them. Through her._

"_What in your right mind made you go along with that prick?" Speedy asked._

"_She's being blackmailed," Robin announced. "Red X is blackmailing her with a secret."_

"_Must be a damn good secret," Cyborg muttered, standing against the wall with his arms crossed and looking out the window. Starfire was staring at her feet and Beast Boy was absently kicking at a lint ball on the floor._

"_So then, what's the secret?" Aqualad asked. "What's so important that you could betray your own friends?"_

"_I didn't betray you!" Raven cried. "I can't--"_

"_I paid Red X to steal Raven back from Slade," Robin interrupted. "That's what he's holding over her."_

"_What?"_

_They were all stunned, staring at him as if he'd grown a third head. _

"_Three months ago, when Slade had Raven, I made a deal with Red X to steal her back from him," Robin explained to the speechless crowd. "Raven was the only other person who knew besides him."_

"_Why?" Cyborg asked. "Why did you want to keep it from us?"_

"_I fought dirty," Robin explained, or tried to. Everyone just looked confused. "I cheated. I took the easy way out."_

"_Dude--" Beast Boy began._

"_It doesn't matter anymore," Robin interrupted again. "The secret's out. You don't have to do what he says anymore, Raven."_

_Raven was having the hardest time holding her tears. They were forming from both anger and hurt._

"_Fine," she nearly whispered, trying to keep hold of her emotions. "I'll be going then."_

"_Raven, wait--" Beast Boy tried, but he was again interrupted._

"_There's no more reason for me to be here, right?" she raged as she brushed past all of them. "I'm not a Titan anymore! So I'm going!"_

"_I better go after her," Aqualad decided, barely making it into the lift as the doors closed._

"_Just leave me alone!" Raven ranted, backing herself into the corner of the lift._

"_Look, we didn't know--"_

"_No one was supposed to find out," Raven cried. "It was supposed to be all over with tonight and I'd be rid of him and I…"_

_She couldn't finish. Her sobs got the better of her as she slid down to sit on the floor. Aqualad tried to reach out to her but she flinched in reaction. _

"_Just let me go," she pleaded between sobs. "I don't want to be here anymore."_

_When the lift door opened, he didn't stop her._

"No it doesn't matter!" Raven yelled, giving the hardest push backwards she could muster. He didn't go very far. "Robin already told the others, they all know I've been deceiving them, and I'm still off the team."

X gave the appearance of being unfazed. "And you think that changes anything?"

"You have nothing to hold over me anymore," Raven reminded him. "So take your stupid revenge plot and shove it up your—"

He slapped her.

"Grow up."

She held a hand to her cheek, feeling the warmth spread as blood rushed there.

"Bitching and complaining about a little spat with your stupid called friends?" he berated her. "Childish."

"It's not just some 'little spat'," Raven argued. "Because of you I'm losing everything."

"You aren't losing anything," X denied. "That bird-brain moron will give up the grudge in a couple months and all will be well again. So just come down off your little emo trip and get on the back of the bike."

"No," she resisted, backing away.

"That wasn't a request!" He grabbed her arm again and slung her over his shoulder, kicking and cursing. "I've told you once before, you can do this the easy way or the hard way, but either way you are _going_ to do it."

He dropped her to the ground next to his bike and before she could regain herself he put a zip-tie on her wrists and then zip-tied her to the bike.

"I tried to make this into a situation that we could both benefit from," he complained, climbing on the bike himself. "I tried to make it so Slade wouldn't be a bother to either of us anymore and we could all go on living our lives a little bit easier, but no. You've been fighting me from the start and I've just run out of patience on you."

Raven didn't say anything, knowing that even though she had thought it couldn't, things were about to get worse.

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X walked through the church, making sure to trip every alarm the super-villain had in the decrepit old place. Sure enough, he got the attention he sought.

"Well, I must say that this is truly different," Slade announced from the shadows of the balcony. "Usually my victims don't come seeking me out in order to die."

"I'm posing a trade," X offered, watching minions with red glowing eyes appear in the hundreds.

"Ah, a last ditch effort to save your pitiful life. How quaint," Slade remarked, sounding amused. "And what, my dear soon-to-be-dead boy, could _you_ have to offer_ me_?"

X pulled on a zip cord he had been holding so it retracted. The sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor was heard before Raven appeared at X's foot, bound and gagged, looking none too happy.

"Something you've been missing for a while," X said.

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A/N: Ha! Two chapters left. Review and see ya next week!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Eh, so I'm a day late. It kinda slipped my mind yesterday...But, anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 8**

"I know you're smarter than that," Slade tsked, staring at the thief and the bound Titan. "That alone won't be enough to sate my appetite for your demise."

"I didn't think it would," X shrugged. "That's why I brought something else."

"And that would be?"

"Information," X stated. Slade snorted, but X was convinced. "This little black bird here has been plotting with the other Titans to come here and 'get' you."

"I'm aware of that," Slade snapped. "And my patience is growing thin."

"But you don't know when and how," X said. "I do, and I can tell you. And they will be none the wiser."

"And why should I trust you?" Slade posed. "You crossed me once already."

"I'm a business man," X shrugged. "My transaction with you was complete and a new one came my way. And the price tag was one that I _couldn't_ let pass me by. It was strictly business. So is this."

"You drive a hard bargain," Slade appraised. "I accept, on one condition: you are to remain here until your 'information' proves accurate."

X shrugged again. "I can handle that."

"Good. Now tie that one up there." Slade pointed to the half broken cross at the altar. "Then get out of my sight for the time being."

"No problem," X agreed, hefting Raven over his shoulder and walking up to the pulpit. She glared at him as he tied her to the cross, but he seemed unfazed.

"I gave you chance after chance after chance with this," he whispered as he tied her legs to the altar. "But you resisted the whole way. And now, you no longer have a say in the matter. So just take that pit of rage you have for me and face it right back at yourself…"

He stood up at face level with her. "…Because the fact that you are hanging from this cross is entirely your fault."

He glanced behind him for a moment and then took off his mask.

"I've told you before, that sometimes you have to do something you don't like in order to get what you want," he reminded her, pushing some stray hair out of her face. "And right now, I want to live more than I want you."

Then, for no reason she could fathom, he leaned forward and placed a quick kiss over her taped lips.

"So long, little birdie."

He stood there for a few seconds longer, as if waiting for some sort of response, then put his mask back on and left the sanctuary. Raven waited until his footsteps were long gone before letting out a quiet sob, with a tear dripping down one cheek.

"Now, now, Raven," Slade said, walking out of the shadows and up into the pulpit. "You don't want to appear weak in front of an enemy, do you?"

She sniffled sharply in response.

"I don't trust that thief any farther than I can throw him," Slade complained, reaching up to pull the tape off that was covering her mouth. "And from our last experience, that isn't very far. So sing for me, little black bird. Tell me what is _really_ going on."

Raven sniffled again, giving him a wary eye, but said nothing.

"Because it seems to me," Slade continued, pulling a blade from his boot and holding it next to her cheek, "that the only thing you have left to lose is your life. And you'd be surprised how long of a wait there can be between life and death."

Raven felt a sharp sting on her cheek as he sliced a quick cut across it.

"There's nothing to tell you," she hissed. "Red X laid it all out for you already. What more do you want to know?"

"I'm not as unaware of the movements of you two as you think I am," he revealed. "I know that he picked you up three nights ago and that the two of you have been manipulating the East Titans, quite effectively I might add."

She cried out in surprise as much as pain when the blade sliced into the side of her thigh.

"You two were partners in this up until recently," Slade stated. "What went wrong?"

"I quit, that's what," Raven growled shakily. She cried out again when the blade dug into her shoulder down her arm.

"He's much more forgiving than I," Slade commented. "If you had quit in a partnership on me, I'd have just killed you. But alas, I am not so stupid as to partner with one enemy to take on another."

Another cut into her side had her cringing, but she didn't cry out.

"One last question, little black bird," Slade said. "And this is strictly between you and I. Can I trust that little bastard to keep his end of the bargain?"

She stared at the ceiling, trying to get some sort of focus. "I don't know."

"Well, then just make an educated guess," Slade insisted, wrapping his hand around her throat. "You have spent quite a bit of intimate time with the little shit."

"I don't trust him," Raven choked out. "I never did. The only reason I was with him was because he blackmailed me."

"Blackmailed?" Slade repeated. Raven realized her slip up and could have kicked herself. "What in this great world could he have to blackmail you?"

Raven didn't immediately answer, so he sliced into the other leg, this time deep enough that she screamed outright.

"Nothing!" she cried. Slade twisted the blade in the wound. "It doesn't matter anymore!"

"I'll be the judge of that," he told her, moving the blade from her leg to her cheek, just below the eye. "You had better tell me, or psychic is the only vision you'll have left."

Raven took a few ragged breaths before giving in. It didn't matter anymore, right?

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"We should still attack tonight," Robin decided. "Before word gets around that the rest of us are here."

"I agree," Bumblebee nodded. "The more the merrier. But we are going to have to change it up a little bit. I'll still take the air, Aqualad can still cover the grounds. Speedy and Mas y Menos are now at your disposal."

"Starfire can assist with air cover," Robin stated. "We can have Beast Boy on the grounds with Aqualad. The rest of us will cover the insides. I'll go with Mas y Menos through the back, Cyborg and Speedy will take the underground entrance that Bumblebee told us about."

"Sounds good to us," Bumblebee agreed.

"So the only question left is when," Cyborg pointed out.

"The window of opportunity is between seven and ten this evening," Aqualad told them. "Steel City's annual fair is tonight, so there will be a lot of people out and about. That will make it hard for Slade's monitoring system to tell who's trespassing and who's just passing by."

"But will that not put those citizens in danger?" Starfire asked.

"We can go in just after the fair ends," Robin decided. "People will still be traveling home, but won't be out for long. They'll be well out of the picture when the real fireworks start."

"Alright," Bumblebee said. "It's decided. Tonight, we make our move at quarter past ten."

"Dudes," Beast Boy interrupted. "What do we do if Red X or Raven shows up?"

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Red X pulled the transmitter out of his ear, smiling. Planting a bug in Titans East Tower turned out to be worth the hassle. He'd heard all he needed to hear.

"I want my information, boy."

Red X turned around to see Slade standing in the doorway leading to the sanctuary.

"Tonight, after the fair, moving in at ten-fifteen," X rattled off. "The girls in the air, Water-Boy and Grass Stain on the ground. Boy Blunder and the hombres taking the back way, Hunk-A-Junk and Lover-Boy in the pipes."

Slade was silent for a moment. "I have no reason to trust you, boy."

"I don't trust you either," X shrugged. "I told you what you wanted to know, and now I'm going to ride my motorcycle back to Jump City, glancing over my shoulder the whole time."

"You're not going anywhere until those little pukes are within my grasp," Slade reminded him. "You take off and our deal is void."

"I gotcha, I gotcha," X groaned.

Slade lingered for a few moments longer, as if to intimidate him more, and then finally left. Red X let out a breath he'd been holding and sat back in the dilapidated old chair that he'd found. He checked the chronometer in his suit and saw that he had about three and a half hours to kill before Slade would let him go.

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After about an hour of sitting and staring at the weathered old paintings, he got up and moved around. In his wandering, he ended up in the sanctuary again and glanced up to the pulpit. Raven had passed out, but that didn't surprise him when he took in how much blood was dripping out of various wounds, plus all that had dripped onto the floor already.

He walked up to her again, standing mere inches from her. And just stood there. He didn't know why he didn't leave, but he just couldn't.

"I'm sorry," he whispered finally, knowing she wouldn't hear him, but not caring.

"You shouldn't be in here."

Red X looked up to the balcony where Slade was.

"I got bored," X shrugged. "And I've never been one to linger in churches for long periods of time."

"Take off that mask and I'll let you walk out of here right now," Slade offered.

"Hell no," X answered, walking down from the pulpit and out of the room. "I ain't that bored."

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By ten after ten, X had looked at his chronometer at least fifty times. He decided to wander towards the sanctuary again, knowing it was about time for him to leave. He got no more than a foot in before he was told to go.

"Your information has proven accurate," Slade announced. "Now get out of my sight. In fact, you would do best to never cross paths with me again."

"I'll keep that in mind," X said, walking out the way he came. But Slade wasn't watching him. He was activating every robot he had within a mile of the church. With those and the bombs he'd planted within the church, he doubted the Titans would be so lucky as to make it out of his lair this time completely unscathed.

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A/N: Next one's the last one. See ya next week!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **IT'S MY FREAKIN' BIRTHDAY! And since I've had a good (damn good, actually) day, I've decided to release my final chapter early to make everyone else have a good day too. So enjoy and let me know what you've thought of the two stories.**

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Chapter 9**

Robin glanced at the time on his communicator for at least the fiftieth time. Next to him, Mas Y Menos were fidgeting with anticipation. As he watched the last few stragglers wander down to the end of the block and disappear down the next one, Robin pressed the speaker button.

"Move in. Now," he whispered, then switched screens.

While waiting for the time to pass, Cyborg had taken the oral description of the insides of the church and put them into a digital map, then downloaded it into each Titan's communicator. Furthermore, proving just how much of a techno junkie he was, he altered them to be able to show where, inside or out of the building, each Titans was.

Robin saw that Speedy and Cyborg were half way through the underground pipe while Starfire and Bumblebee were each on nearby rooftops. Beast Boy was extremely close to the church and moving around sporadically, probably as a small animal or rodent. Aqualad was a bit farther down the block, checking for any accidental bystanders that may have been passing by.

Silently and quickly, Robin and the speedsters made their way through the back of the church towards the sanctuary, which Bumblebee had described as a command center of sorts.

"I don't like this," he mumbled, earning two confused stares. "It's way too easy. We should have been detected or stopped by now."

"Yo, Robin," Cyborg called through the communicator. Robin flipped it open to see a very concerned Cyborg looking back at him. "We've got a problem."

"Robots?" Robin guessed.

"Worse," Cyborg revealed. "This pipe has a leak. A major one. It's filling up on us at rate of two inches per second."

"Abort!" Robin commanded at a strained whisper. "It's a trap!"

Mas Y Menos looked at him like he was crazy. Robin nodded for them to fall back but before they could, an explosion blew away their escape route. They were now forced to go forward.

"Be prepared," Robin warned them, stalking forward carefully. As he entered the sanctuary, he tripped at the sight at the altar.

"Dios mio!" Mas Y Menos exclaimed together.

"Don't go up there," Robin instructed, having recollected himself. "It's probably a trap. That can't really be Raven."

"And why not?"

Another explosion from behind them blew all three boys forward to land on the pews. Robin looked up to see Slade standing on the balcony.

"We meet again," he said, slightly amused. Around them, robots began appearing from everywhere. Mas Y Menos looked at each other and nodded, clasping hands and running circles in the sanctuary. Using their joined arms, the tripped up every robot in their path. In the few moments of distraction, Robin made a more scrutinous glance at the altar.

"She _is_ real, Robin," Slade commented, jumping down from the balcony. "That much I can assure you. Whether or not she is still alive, that I cannot."

From his side, Robin's communicator went off.

"This is Cyborg. We need some help down here. Both exits are sealed and the water's just about to fill the pipe."

"You really had no chance, boy," Slade critiqued. "But you always play the optimist until the end, don't you? Always preaching that good will overcome evil."

Slade was slowly stalking forward as Robin backed toward the altar at the same pace.

"But you know better," Slade continued, his tone causing the hairs on Robin's neck to stand on end. "You realize that fighting the good fight doesn't necessarily mean that you'll win."

For a moment, Robin faltered. Realization was beginning to set in.

"Really, Robin," Slade chuckled. "You lied to your own teammates and deceived them once again. I really didn't think you had it in you."

Robin ignored him and made a break for the altar. Slade made no quick attempt to follow, as if knowing that the effort of the teen leader was futile. Once he reached her, Robin immediately felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was slow and faint. He quickly cut the ropes that had been holding her to the cross and felt dead weight lean into him. He turned around and saw Slade little more than three meters away, his arms crossed behind his back as if he were waiting for something.

"You should learn from the past, boy," Slade advised. "You weren't able to save her then, you won't be able to save her now. And you have no thief to payoff to bail you out this time."

"Who said I had to be paid?"

Slade turned just in time to see a boot meet his face. Red X landed in the pulpit next to Robin and immediately gave him a wicked shove to the side. A moment later, the entire pulpit blew to pieces. Neither X nor Robin was spared a second to regain themselves as they were both attacked by a swarm of robots, forcing Robin to set down Raven lest she be hit by the attacks meant for him.

Raven had begun to regain consciousness due to the jostling and looked up in wonder at the battle raging in the sanctuary. For no reason she could fathom, Red X and Robin were fighting side by side against Slade's robots. She didn't have long to ponder on it though, as she was roughly pulled up by the arm and dragged away from the scene.

"That little wretch," Slade hissed, dragging her up the stairs by her arm since her injured legs failed at keeping up. "He really _does_ want to die."

"It's your own fault," Raven muttered. Slade stopped abruptly and pulled her up to eye view.

"What?"

"The deal was that he'd tell you when and how the Titans would attack, and you'd take him off your death list," Raven clarified. "He didn't say anything about not helping the Titans."

"I see," Slade contemplated, continuing up the stairs to the roof. "That little turd is smarter than I gave him credit. No matter, I've always been good at _multitasking_."

On the roof, Slade dragged her to the west side of it and tied her to the cross that had half collapsed due to age. From a hidden pocket, he pulled a remote and stood waiting. Starfire was the first to confront him.

"Give us back our friend, vile one," she demanded, her fists and eyes glowing green.

"No," Slade denied, and pushed the first button on the small remote. From beneath her, a hole blew through the roof of the church, blowing up debris into Starfire's face. Blinded for the moment, Slade threw a vicious kick into her ribs that sent her soaring.

When he'd turned around, Raven had one hand free and Bumblebee, in her miniature form, was quick at work freeing the other one. They both looked up as Slade grabbed Raven by the neck and tore her away from the broken cross and dropped her in the whole he'd just created in the roof. Raven held on to bits of the roof to keep from falling down into the burning church, wondering how long she would be able to hold on with the deep wound in one of her arms.

A tiny cry caught her attention and she looked up to see Slade attempting to crush Bumblebee, still in her miniature form, within his grasp. Starfire rammed him in the back, causing him to drop Bumblebee onto the roof, but the unconscious Titan merely went sliding down to the edge. Raven cried out as she went over the edge, but was relieved a few seconds later when Beast Boy jumped onto the roof, holding her over his gorilla shoulder. He barely had time to react and catch Starfire, who was thrown at him by Slade.

"Never send a robot to do a man's job," Slade commented, shaking his head. He once again pulled out the small remote and pressed another button. Instantly, Raven heard three bombs go off in succession from within the church.

"One support beam left," Slade commented, waving the remote in front of her. "Care to place a bet on how many Titans I can kill with in one shot?"

Slade suddenly went flying over her.

"Probably the same number as usual. None."

Red X now stood where Slade had only moments before, the remote now in his hand.

"They're like roaches," he continued. "They could probably survive a nuclear war."

"And are you one of those roaches?" Slade asked, moving his head from side to side to crack his neck.

"Not in this lifetime," X snorted, tucking the remote down the back of Raven's uniform and ignoring her sqwauk of protest.

"Raven!"

As Slade and Red X began to fight, she looked down into the burning remnants of the church. The way she twisted to see caused the remote to shift in her uniform and ultimately fall into the fire below where Robin was half dragging Cyborg along with Speedy and Menos was helping a limping Mas.

"Just stay there!" Robin yelled. "We'll be right up there!"

She rolled her eyes, thinking to herself just where did he think she was going to go?

When she looked up again, Red X was down and Raven knew he wasn't getting up. For the umpteenth time that night, she cursed the X device that was stuck to her forehead, preventing her from doing anything but hanging on for life to keep from falling any farther through the hole. As she helplessly watched, Slade approached the downed thief, picking him up by the neck, as well as one of the thief's shuriken.

"This is the end of my troubles with you, boy," Slade announced. "It really has been a pleasure to kill you."

"You can't do this, Slade," Raven cried. "You—"

"You can't stop me," Slade roared back, raising his arm to slash the young thief's throat.

"Grant Wilson!" Raven yelled. It had the desired effect, Slade stopped moving.

"What?" he growled. "What did you say?"

"His name is Grant Wilson," Raven told him. "And I know you don't want to kill him."

Slade dropped the thief and walked over to Raven, using her cloak to pull her up out of the hole.

"You're lying."

"I'm not," Raven argued weakly. "Take his mask off and see for yourself."

Slade unceremoniously dropped her on her butt and turned back towards the thief, only to find him gone. Raven tried to crawl away, but Slade used her cape to pull her back to him. Once she was in his crushing grip, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"That was a dirty trick," he hissed.

"It wasn't a trick, I swear," Raven cried. "You can't kill him!"

"And what makes you believe that?" Slade inquired, watching the remainder of the Titans stand up and move into attack position. "Maybe I wanted to find him so I could kill him myself."

"No, Slade Wilson," Raven said quiet enough that only he would hear. "You would not kill your own son."

And then it happened. A loud explosion followed by a deep and metallic creek instantly made everyone's stomach drop: the last of the weight bearing beams was collapsing. The bits of the roof they were standing on began to crumble beneath them and smoke rose with new fervor from the fire below, marring everyone's vision.

Shadows were all that could be seen through the smoke clouds by the news helicopters that were circling the building. The evening news rolled a clip of a tall shadow holding a small one, and a mid-sized shadow sneaking up on them. The tall shadow suddenly went down, and the medium shadow made off with the small one.

A pressurized shot was fired and the camera caught sight of a couple dark figures swinging away from the burning building. A gun shot was fired from the roof of the building, bringing the camera's focus back to the church just in time to watch it collapse completely. When the camera's view panned back to the dark figures making their escape, they were gone.

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Robin came upon them in a sewer ditch. Neither of them were moving, with Raven lying on her back across X's chest, who's back was slowly sinking into the muck. Much to his relief, he could see from where he stood that Raven's chest was steadily rising and falling as she breathed.

Haphazardly, Robin made his way down the top of the ditch, sliding down most of it. He managed to not land on his butt at the bottom, but knew that he probably didn't smell to nice with all the crap he'd accumulated on his uniform on the way down. Carefully, he approached the two, unable to determine X's state from where he was.

"'Bout time you got here."

"I wondered if you lived through it," Robin said. X shifted shakily, groaning with the effort.

"My last disappearing act," X admitted. "I'm spent."

"Yeah, well, I just came here for Raven," Robin stated. "After I've got her and am on my way, I don't care what you do…but _if_ I were you, I'd leave here through the sewer pipes and head north. Less patrols that way."

X gave a small chuckle. "Thanks, kid. But I'm not leaving this ditch."

"What?"

"I told ya," X groaned as he slowly pushed Raven off his chest, "I'm spent."

Robin was speechless. There was a solid piece of metal, probably no more than a half an inch in diameter, protruding slightly from his chest. The way it sat, Robin could tell that he'd landed on it on his back, possibly puncturing his left lung, and dangerously close to his heart. The sound of sirens brought him back to the situation.

"Sounds like it's time for you to be off," X commented weakly. Robin kick-started himself and gathered Raven into his arms. He headed to the open sewer duct and climbed in.

"Hey, do me one favor," X called from behind him. Robin paused in his tracks. "Kiss her goodbye for me."

Robin took off down the sewer pipe at a fierce pace. X sighed in relief, then coughed, frowning at the bitter copper taste of blood in his mouth.

"And such is a heroic ending."

X craned his head to the top of the slope to view none other than Slade.

"Screw you."

"Such cruel words for someone who has such a kind offer."

"Whatever you're selling, I ain't buying."

"Hear me out, in the last few minutes of your meager life," Slade insisted. "I am willing to put all that's happened between us out of mind and save your life tonight."

"If?" X prompted.

"If, you swear right now to be a loyal apprentice to me," Slade offered. "And later, a partner."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm ready to die."

Slade stood there for a moment, then shrugged. "Suit yourself."

In the next moment, he landed just a few feet from X in the ditch and walked over. "But I do want to know something before I go."

"What?"

"I want to know just what you look like under that mask," Slade said, pulling the fabric off. He stared for a few moments before tossing the mask to the side. "She lied."

"Who?"

"That little witch. She lied to me."

Slade began walking back up the slope. Or at least, that's what X thought Slade was doing. X's vision had gone somewhat blurry and he was really tired. He could no longer hear Slade and his mind was beginning to wander towards a dark place.

"I just can't figure out how she knew my name," he murmured, letting the heavy feeling of lethargicness take over . "I don't remember ever telling her…"

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She could hear beeping. Stretching out with her senses, she could feel an IV in her left arm. Feeling outside of her body, she could sense a familiar presence in the chair a few feet away from her, and a ways after that, she felt the rest of the Titans.

"Good morning, Raven."

Raven opened her eyes and sleepily blinked at Robin.

"How'd I get here?"

"I brought you."

Raven was silent for a few minutes, reaching out with her healing ability to finish repairing the damage that her friends had worked laboriously to heal.

"So, why am I here?"

"You don't want to be?"

"I thought that I was kicked out of the Titans."

Robin was quiet for a moment. "I was wrong for doing that."

"What, and you think that just saying you were wrong fixes everything?" Raven asked, incredulously.

"I know it doesn't fix everything," he started. "Hell, I know it doesn't fix anything. But you need to know that at least I realize it."

It was quiet for a few minutes. "So then, what now? Do we just pretend that the last week never happened?"

"No," Robin answered. "What happens next is up to you. It's your choice if you want to come back to Titans West with us, or stay here with Titans East, or…I don't know. Whatever."

"I'll have to think about what I want to do," Raven decided.

"Take your time," he advised. "Meanwhile, I'm going to go tell the other Titans that you're awake."

"Robin," Raven called out before he could leave the room. "What happened…to _him_?"

He had his back to her, and he was glad for it. His gaze dropped to the floor for a moment before he turned his head slightly and spoke over his shoulder. "He dumped you in a sewer ditch when he realized he couldn't make it with the both of you and took off. I don't know where he's at right now."

There was silence for a moment.

"You're lying."

Robin finally looked at her, hearing her quiet sobs as she pulled her knees to her chest and cried into them.

"Raven, I…"

Robin really didn't know what to say. He figured she might be able to feel through their bond what had truly happened, and decided that he'd might as well tell her the truth since she could probably sense it anyway.

"Somehow he got you back from Slade and shot a tether line to the west," Robin explained, sitting back down in the chair he'd just vacated. "We all knew the roof was collapsing, so we all did the same. Slade took one shot. I don't think he was trying to hit either of you, but he did sever the tether line and we lost sight of you all together.

"With the roof collapsed, and Slade nowhere in sight, and we all decided it was best if we could find you before trying to find him. We split up, some of us in the air, some of us on foot. I knew that X would be trying to hide, so I decided to check the sewer pipes. That's when I found you.

"It looked like he had hit the ground hard and rolled, but something went wrong. I don't know if maybe he hit the ground too hard or hit a slick spot but the two of you were thrown into the spill off of the dump. You landed okay, he didn't.

"He told me to take off with you and leave him there. Even though I really disliked the guy, I didn't want to leave him there, but I knew from his wound that if I moved him, I'd probably just make things worse. So I picked you up and walked away. And I didn't look back."

He watched her sobbing silently, wishing he could comfort her in some way, but also knowing that he was the last person she probably wanted anything from. He did offer his hand, gently sliding it over her fisted ones. She immediately grabbed it and squeezed hard, letting out a loud sob.

She pulled on his arm, accepting a shaky embrace and crying wholeheartedly. Her sobs slowly died out leaving only sniffles in their wake and they sat there for a while in silence. Finally Robin pulled back and took her head in both hands, then placed a kiss on her forehead.

"He wanted you to have that," he explained, just before pulling away again. "I'm going to go tell the others that you're awake."

"Robin."

"Yeah?"

"I've decided. I want to go back with you. Back to Titans West."

"Are you sure?"

"It's where I belong."

"Alright," Robin smiled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a communicator, setting it on the edge of the bed. "Welcome back to the Titans."

**Epilogue**

Another week had passed and almost back to normal. Still, Raven felt like she'd come full circle.

"Pizza!"

"Down, boy."

"Mustard!"

"Star, I told you that you aren't supposed to bring condiments from home."

"I didn't. Silkie brought it."

"Hey! No slug-things on the table!"

"Or the pizza!"

"Doesn't this town have a leash law?"

Back home, sitting on the balcony of the Pizza Palace, celebrating her triumphant return to the Titans, Raven smiled. Everything felt normal again. Even if Robin was staring at her again. She gave him the evil eye and he smiled widely.

"Silkie, you musn't devour other disks of gooey goodness other than our own," Starfire scolded her pet slug.

_It's good to be home._

Robin raised his glass in a silent toast. _It's good to have you home._

"Dude, we agreed, no anchovies," Beast Boy complained. "Why are there little fishies on my pizza?"

"You pick off the fishies, I pick off the tofu," Cyborg explained. "That's the fair way to do it."

"I'm going to get more napkins," Raven declared, standing. "I have a feeling this is going to be a messy night."

"Oh, friend Raven," Starfire spoke up. "Will you ask for the Whip of Miracle as well? Silkie likes it on his pineapple and mushroom pizza."

After a resounding 'eww' from everyone else at the table, Raven made her way inside the Pizza Palace to pick up more napkins from the order counter. She took the entire stack without hesitation and turned back to see the Titans looking around on the floor outside for something.

She knew exactly what they were looking for when it slinked across her boot.

"Eww," she groaned, and with a sigh of defeat, bent down and picked the slug up. When she stood, she stared right at a white tee-shirt. Her gaze slowly traveled upward until she lost her breath in a gasp.

The blond curls were pushed back behind his ears and the scar on his cheek was slightly bowed due to the fact that he was grinning. She caught his blue eyes and time stopped.

"Hey," he said, making time move forward again.

"Hey," she repeated, dumfounded. A million things were running through her mind but she couldn't put any of them together to make a sentence.

"Silkie!"

Starfire's squeal tore Raven's gaze away as the red-headed alien retrieved the goo-ing slug from Raven.

"Thank you friend Raven for finding Silkie before the chefs!"

"Chefs?" Raven repeated, confused.

"Yes, Beast Boy speaks of horrible stories of chefs that catch stray pets and put them into their cooking," Starfire explained. "Who is this friend of Raven?"

Raven almost tripped standing still. She looked over at him, at a loss of what to say.

"Grant Wilson."

Raven just stared, slightly slack-jawed.

"Well, Grant Wilson, friend of Raven," Starfire continued, "please come join us in the eating of the yummy disks of goo."

"I would, but I'm just passing through," Grant declined. "I just happened to see Raven and wanted to say 'hey.'"

Starfire shrugged, then enveloped Silkie into a monster hug and squeed all the way back to their table.

"Just passing through," Raven repeated after she finally found her voice again. "How did you--"

"Don't think about it," he advised her, stepping close. "It'll just give you a headache."

He leaned forward and kissed her. Had she been anywhere else but in the middle of a pizza parlor surrounded by people, she might have jumped into his arms and kissed him back. Instead, she stood there like a mannequin, still frozen in place from shock. He smirked at her when he pulled away.

"Where are you going?" she asked, hoping that she didn't sound desperate.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I'll be seeing ya again soon."

With that, he walked out. After a minute or two, Raven coaxed her legs into moving again and walked out on the patio with her friends.

"So Raven, when do we get to meet your _boyfriend_?" Beast Boy taunted.

Raven blinked at him, realizing that everyone had watched them part ways. She put on an evil smirk and patted him on the head none too gently. "When you grow up, kid."

Everyone laughed, save Beast Boy, who glowered, but supper continued on anyway. After a brief stop downtown to take care of Plasmus, the Titans headed home for a movie binge. They all retired to bed as dawn's light crept over the bay, and Raven didn't see the note on her bed until she laid down on it.

"What the…" she murmured, pulling the now half crumpled paper from underneath her.

_I told you they'd let you_

_back in, little birdie. _

_You'll see me when you're_

_dreaming, I'll see you _

_while you're dreaming._

She laughed out loud and dropped the note on the floor. Just for kicks, she decided that as of tomorrow, she was going to switch rooms with Robin and see just how far the thief got.

Yeah, things were back to normal.

* * *

A/N: Ok. So. It's the END. Hard to believe that from outlining to writing and posting the finished product it's been 22 months. Almost two years. Sheesh. All I can say to that is thanks for stickin' with me. Through writer's block and computers crashing, I made it through. Thanks again for your support! Future prospects? Well, no plans for another sequel or anything like that. But then again, I did think that about the last story... 


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